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Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette was about to go to bed around 11 p.m. Tuesday night, having just sailed to victory in the Aug. 9 primary against challenger Alexia Sabor, chair of the Dane Dems. The 82-year-old La Follette received 64 percent of the vote and won every county in the state.
“I want to thank the voters for supporting me and congratulate my opponent for running a good campaign. I also must warn people that in the coming weeks, the integrity of our elections is at stake,” La Follette tells Isthmus. “The Republicans want to bring politics back into the election process and that’s wrong. I’m opposed to it. We have to make sure the voters understand what’s at stake.”
La Follette is running for his 12th term as secretary of state, a post he has held continuously since 1983. This campaign got off to a bizarre start with the mega-incumbent feeling “betrayed” that the Democratic Party of Wisconsin wouldn’t help him (or Sabor) collect signatures to get on the ballot. That left La Follette scrabbling with just days to go before the filing deadline. He ended up receiving more than required 2,000 signatures and made it on the ballot. He then soon left the country for a weeks-long African safari that had been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s probably not the best time [to leave the country], but I had no choice unless I had to forfeit the payment I made for it,” La Follette told the Associated Press on June 6.
During the height of the primary race, campaign finance reports show Sabor spent 72 times more on her campaign than La Follette spent on his. He spent just $86 in the reporting period from July 1 through July 25.
La Follette will face Republican state Rep. Amy Loudenbeck in the Nov. 8 midterm. She won her three-way nomination race by 7 points and heads into the general election with $180,000 in her campaign bank account. La Follette has around $23,000. Loudenbeck supports disbanding the Wisconsin Elections Commission and turning authority over elections administration back to the secretary of state — a power the office lost decades ago.
“It’s obvious to me that you don’t want politicians in a position where they can mess with the election results,” says La Follette. “That’s what my Republican opponent has pledged to do.”
In the other statewide Democratic primary races, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes won his party’s nomination for U.S. Senate with 78 percent of the vote. He’ll face Republican incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson, who easily bested his opponent in the primary. Three of Barnes’ Democratic opponents — Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, and State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski — dropped out of the race and threw their support behind Barnes with just days to go before the primary. All three remained on the ballot and Lasry got the most sympathy votes statewide, 9 percent.
The polling precinct located at Olbrich Gardens on Madison’s near east side gave Barnes his highest percentage of support in Dane County (not counting very small precincts with only a handful of voters). The lieutenant governor received 91 percent from voters who cast ballots at Olbrich.
Assembly Rep. Sara Rodriguez (D-Brookfield) will be Gov. Tony Evers running mate this fall. She defeated challenger Peng Her from Madison by 50 points in the primary for lieutenant governor. State Sen. Roger Roth (R-Appleton) won the GOP contest for lieutenant governor with 30 percent of the vote.
The Democratic primary race for state treasurer is still too close to call as of Wednesday morning. The AP has Fitchburg Mayor Aaron Richardson up by nearly 9,000 votes over opponent Gillian Battino.
Incumbent Attorney General Josh Kaul didn’t face a primary opponent. In the Republican primary for attorney general, attorney Eric Toney is leading by fewer than 3,500 votes ahead of former lawmaker Adam Jarchow. But Jarchow conceded the race early Wednesday morning.
In local Dane County elections, Dane County Supv. Melissa Ratcliff won a crowded Democratic primary to represent Cottage Grove, Sun Prairie, and a small sliver of Madison in the Assembly. She’ll face Republican Andrew McKinney in the general election.
Democrat Mike Bare won a five-way primary race to represent the Verona area in the Assembly. He’ll face Republican Jacob Luginbuhl in the fall.
Alex Joers received 76 percent of the vote against fellow Democrat Brad Votava in the primary race for an Assembly seat that covers Middleton, Waunakee, and part of Madison. He’ll be running against Republican Victoria Fueger.
There was a moment early Tuesday night where it looked like Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos might actually lose to a Trump-backed challenger who launched Vos in effigy from a giant slingshot the day before the election. The Assembly speaker has come under fire from some in his party for refusing to decertify the 2020 presidential election — which Vos said is legally impossible. Former President Donald Trump wasn’t pleased with Vos’ refusal to support his election lies and gave a last-minute endorsement to the speaker’s opponent, Adam Steen. Ultimately Vos squeaked by with 52 percent of the vote, with Steen coming up short by just 260 votes.
“It was closer than we thought but I knew it wasn’t going to be a blowout,” Vos told Spectrum News 1. “When a [former] president decides to attack you, that’s not something you take lightly.”
Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch did feel the sting of Trump backing her rival. The former president’s support for construction magnate Tim Michels proved decisive with Wisconsin Republican primary voters. Michels bested Kleefisch by 5 points and won with 47 percent of the vote statewide despite only entering the race in April. Kleefisch needed to do well in the vote-heavy Republican counties surrounding Milwaukee and in Dane County. She received majorities in Waukesha and Ozaukee counties but it wasn’t enough to overcome Michels’ support across the state. He won 62 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties. He also poured in $8 million of his own personal fortune on his way to electoral success. Kleefisch didn’t have that option but still raised and spent $6 million trying to secure her party’s nomination. Election denier and lawmaker Tim Ramthun came in third with 6 percent of the vote.
Michels will take on incumbent Gov. Tony Evers in November in what’s expected to be a very expensive and tight race that will garner nationwide attention.
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